FIRST DAY OF MOTOGP PRACTICE AT THE SACHSENRING

ALEIX JUST OUTSIDE THE TOP TEN, SCOTT IMPROVES AFTER A POSITIVE MORNING

First day of practice on the German Sachsenring circuit in view of the MotoGP race on Sunday. Despite some threatening clouds, the two sessions were held on dry asphalt. Both of the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders focused their work on the right tyre combination choice, a critical issue on the short and twisty Saxony track, both for the race and for qualifiers on Saturday.

Scott Redding had a positive morning practice session, finishing in ninth place. In the afternoon, all the riders improved and the fastest on the Italian team was Aleix, finishing thirteenth just 15 tenths outside the top ten. Getting into the top ten remains the top objective for Aleix who will have the FP3 session tomorrow to try to skip the first qualifying session and go straight through to Q2 with the best 12 riders.

Scott, although improving his time, finished 19th but had positive sensations in the second session as well.

ALEIX ESPARGARO'

"I am satisfied with the way we worked today. We focused on race pace. In the afternoon I did a 15 lap long run at a pace in the high 1'21s that I am happy about. Tomorrow morning the goal is to place the RS-GP in the top 10 to go straight through to the second qualifying session and I am confident that it is within our potential. On this track, starting from the front three rows is fundamental, given the difficulty overtaking here."

SCOTT REDDING

"It's nice to be in certain positions, like in FP1 today. At the beginning, I didn't have the right tyres, but I expected that so it didn't worry me. In fact, once I had changed them, I took a significant step forward straight away. In both sessions we worked mainly on the right tyre combination choice, which makes the difference here. Overall, I felt good. I feel at ease on the bike and in the afternoon I could even have improved the time more."